


an even bigger mess

by rideahorse



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabble Collection, M/M, for organization, from my tumblr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 21:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7861975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rideahorse/pseuds/rideahorse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another drabble collection, Volume #2: voltron</p>
            </blockquote>





	an even bigger mess

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is @johncherrystone

They dock at a waterlogged planet nearby one of their recent successes against the Galra, battle-weary and tired and ready for a break, even if it doesn’t last long and responsibilities still lay heavy on their minds.  It rains a lot on this planet, so Keith isn’t surprised when Shiro and the others go to bed without so much as stepping foot outside.

Later, when Keith’s lying in bed, listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops against the ship fade into silence, he isn’t surprised to find the sound soon replaced by footsteps down the hall.

He doesn’t find Lance at first, but instead finds footsteps in the mud outside the ship.  His first thought is anger, because who else would be stupid enough to wander into a foreign planet alone at night?  But he’s tired, so he simply follows the trail.

Five minutes later, and Keith finds himself at the shore of some small sort of pond.  There’s a figure swimming a ways off of the shore, gracefully sliding through the water as if it’s second nature, and Keith’s a little bit transfixed by the beauty of the motion.  So he sits, and says nothing, and watches.

Lance gets tired after a while (Keith doesn’t know exactly how long it’s been, whether it’s been a few minutes or an hour) and heads back to the shore.  He stills slightly at the sight of someone sitting there, but upon realizing who, grins and makes his way over.

“You scared me,” he accuses.

Keith frowns.  "You left the ship alone in the middle of the night.“

"Are you my mom, enforcing curfew?”  Lance laughs when Keith makes a face, opening his mouth to protest.  He reaches out a hand.  "Hey, come in.  It feels great.“

Keith chews his lip, glancing sidelong at the ripples in the water.  "No, thanks.”

“Oh, please.  I think you deserve some time to relax.”  He takes a step closer to Keith, grabbing a couple of pebbles from the bottom of the pond and running them through his fingers.  "You were just sitting in your room, not sleeping anyways, because you just worry about things all the time.  Come in the pond.  Float a bit.  Don’t think about things.“

Keith tries to ignore the fact that Lance has hit the nail on the head with that one, and instead pulls his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.  "I would,” he admits slowly, “but I can’t.  Er, can’t swim, that is.”

Lance’s brows skyrocket.  "What?  You’re kidding.“

"I lived in a shack in the middle of the desert, Lance.”

“No, I– Okay, that’s it.”  Lance takes another step, grabbing Keith’s hand in his and tugging Keith to his feet.  "Come on, I’ll show you.  It’s not that hard.“

Keith tries to pull back (but doesn’t try very hard because yes, he does, he really does want that feeling of Lance’s hand in his), but Lance tightens his grip.  "I don’t think that’s a good–”

“Well, I never have good ideas, according to you,” says Lance, one corner of his lips turned up into an infuriating smirk.  "But why not trust me anyways?  Seriously, don’t think too much.“

Keith stares.  Lance tugs at his hand, and he feels the cool of the water lapping up above his ankles.  "Thinking might do you some good,” he grumbles, but relents.  He pulls his hand out of Lance’s for a moment, electing to shed his jacket and pajama pants and maybe save himself the hassle of having to dry them later.

Lance whistles, likely relishing in the opportunity to tease Keith.  Keith sends him a nasty glare and marches forward into the water, letting it rise up past his waist and then to his chest.

Lance glides past him on the water, swimming backwards.  He cocks his head, moving into water that rises just above his shoulders.  "C'mere, I’ll show you how to float.“

Keith opens his mouth to decline.

"And you can’t say no.”

With a slight grumble, Keith slinks the rest of the way to the water, taking a panicked breath when the water rises up to his mouth.  He makes a move backwards, but Lance grabs at his arm, a quiet ushering of _relax_ making Keith calm down.

"Just lean back, okay?  The water’ll let you float.”

“It will _not_ –”

“ _I’ll_ let you float.  I’ll hold you.  Trust me, I taught three of my siblings to swim, you’re gonna be fine.”

Keith does trust Lance, a lot more than his brain thinks would be reasonable.  He doesn’t protest this time, and instead lets Lance guide him backwards.  Feeling nothing but water beneath him makes him uneasy, but Lance’s hand is steady against the small of his back moments later, holding him up to the surface.  Keith takes a breath.

“Okay.  This is okay.”

“Okay?”

“Don’t let go of me.”

“Oh, but why not? It’d be hilarious.”

“ _Lance_.”

Lance laughs, and Keith watches his cheeks curve around dimples that he really wish he’d noticed sooner.  "I’m kidding, geez.  Relax.  You’re still thinking too much.“

"Fine.”  Keith breaths in through his nose, slowly.  He stares straight ahead, at an array of constellations that he doesn’t recognize blinking away in the night sky.  For a moment, he’d forgotten that they weren’t back home, on earth, and it’s only the sight of three moons that make him realize how far they still must be.  He glances back at Lance, looking for distraction.  (Lance has always been too much of a distraction for Keith.)  "Why the night swimming?“

Lance hums, attention snapping back to Keith.  "It reminds me of home.  We lived right by the beach, but there was a lake by my abuela’s house, so we’d go swimming all the time.  Kinda feels like I grew up in the water, y'know?”

“And then wanted to be in the air.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I like the feeling of floating.  Space just seemed like the next step up.”  Lance runs a hand through his hair, pausing to tilt his head and smile at Keith.  When the expression is greeted by a confused dent between Keith’s brow, his grin widens and he slowly raises a second hand from the water.  "Now look who’s doing it.“

It takes Keith a second to realize that Lance has completely let go of him, one more second to relish in the feeling of being weightless, and one more to completely lose whatever’d been keeping him up.  He starts sinking, head dipping below the water level until his feet meet solid ground, and then he comes up spluttering.  Lance steadies him with both arms, carefully keeping him above the water level.

When Keith’s back to breathing normally, Lance laughs.  He’s decent enough to cover it with a hand, but Keith glares at him regardless.

"You let go,” he says.

Lance nods.  "And you floated.  Feel free to tell me how right I was.“

There’s a brief moment in time when it’s quiet, and Keith feels like the one thing he wants is to kiss Lance.  And maybe because of Lance’s arms around him, maybe because he can’t swim but with Lance he can _float_ , maybe because Lance is staring at him with a strange sort of look that Keith really wishes to describe as lovestruck–

Keith doesn’t know his reasons, but he kisses him.

When he pulls away (a mere seconds later, because Keith isn’t as brave as he wishes he could be), Lance takes a few moments to open his eyes.  

"W-what was that?”

Keith swallows. He hadn’t prepared an excuse, which might’ve been a mistake, but he manages to say, “You told me to stop thinking.”

Lance blinks, processing.  Keith’s almost afraid that he’ll let go, and drop him back into the water, but then he smiles, and starts laughing.  "Yeah,“ he agrees.  "I did.”

“It’s not _funny_ –”

“Relax!”  Lance bites his lip, looking bashful for once.  "I just–I kinda figured I’d do that first.“

_Lance wanted to kiss you too_.  Keith sort of blanks at the thought, and results to opening and closing his mouth a few times, struggling for some sort of a response.  "You…you _idio–”_

Lance kisses him again.  Unsurprisingly (though nothing else has seemed to work in the past), it shuts him up.  He’s still smiling, which Keith can feel against his lips, but he doesn’t mind so much.  In fact, the feeling makes him feel sort of weightless.

“There,” Lance breathes, when there’s enough space between them for a breath.  "Now we’re even.“

Keith finds himself smiling, too.  He lets out a small laugh under his breath.

"What?”

Keith glances back up to Lance.  "I guess–that sort of feels like floating, too.“


End file.
